Supreme Court strikes down key voting rights provision

June 25, 2013

The Supreme Court Tuesday struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act, ruling unconstitutional a provision of the landmark civil rights legislation used to promote the political power of minority votersacross large swaths of the southern United States for nearly four decades.

In a 5-4 ruling that split the court along ideological lines, the court freed some or all of 15 states from the requirement that all changes to voting laws, procedures and even polling place locations get advance approval from the Justice Department or a panel of federal judges.

The court’s conservative majority said when Congress reauthorized the law in 2006 it did not have sufficient basis to re-adopt the formula set decades earlier.

Those challenging the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance provision, known as Section 5, argued that it unfairly punishes the covered states and communities by singling them out for special requirements based on evidence of racial discrimination in 1965 rather than the present day. The challengers also claimed that the rule placed costly and cumbersome burdens on the covered jurisdictions by requiring that changes as minor as a shift in polling places be submitted to Washington for approval.

Supporters of keeping the law intact urged the justices to respect Congress’s judgment that the preclearance procedure was still needed to various tactics that have been used to limit the voting power of African Americans and other minorities. In 2006, the Senate backed reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act in a unanimous, 98-0, vote. The House signed on by a lopsided margin of 390-to-33.

President George W. Bush, flanked by civil rights leaders, held a Rose Garden ceremony to sign the bill, which extended the preclearance rule through 2031.

In last fall’s election, the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance rule played a central role in derailing so-called Voter ID legislation in several of the states where it was passed. Federal courts blocked such a measure in Texas and effectively postponed such legislation from taking effect in South Carolina. A Mississippi law was blocked by the Justice Department.

However, civil rights groups managed to find ways to block voter ID laws in two states not covered by the preclearance rule: Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In both cases, state judges prohibited enforcement of the measures in 2012. However, the laws are expected to go into effect in future elections.

Tuesday’s decision was widely expected, especially in the wake of a 2009 ruling in which eight justices signed onto an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts saying the operation of the law “now raises serious constitutional concerns.” Justice Clarence Thomas, the sole dissenter from that 2009 opinion, wanted to strike down the preclearance provision at that time.

CONTINUED:  http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-ruling-93324.html#ixzz2XErk9LKp